


The Fangs of the Cougar

by mxdwxrld



Category: Marvel, X-Men
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-10-16 02:31:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17540963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxdwxrld/pseuds/mxdwxrld
Summary: The hardships of a female older than she looks is haunted by her memories and possibly hunted by people who want to kill her. Though, she's been in hiding for years. So who would want to hunt The Cougar?*Please not that this is my AU and world for the Marvel Universe, mainly the X-Men. This world I have created is called the Cougarverse and is rightfully so in my name.





	1. Memories

**_A female figure was running through the thick forest, running from something. Something that was after her. She wasn't built, but was lean and flexible. One might imagine the woman built like a cougar. A mountain lion for it's more common name._ **

**_This girl, possibly a lot older than she seems fell to the ground with a painful scream, pale blonde strands of hair falling across her face. Her foot was caught by a bear trap, perhaps from a local hunter. No, yes, maybe. She didn't know. She didn't even think of it as she tore the bear trap back into its original state, releasing her foot covered with the crimson rubies that she had all the time now. She didn't have time to wait and heal for hours because unlike her 'brothers' she was a slow healer within her powers of regeneration._ **

**_She was now back on her feet, trying to ignore her pain, trying to run, with a limp in each step, from this beast that was chasing her, like a hawk after it’s prey. The animal with the name she was called. The Cougar. Her own spiritual animal, the animal that she had mutations like, was trying to kill her. She didn't know why._ **

**_She didn't bother it. She wasn't going to fight it. Her own mutations of this world wouldn't be much useful like Sabretooth's clawed nails and bared teeth (though she did have teeth and nails similar to his own), or even Wolverine's claws that were now metal unlike their old bonish state. Then the girl stopped, her piercing blue eyes attached to her head turned with her skull to look at the cougar chasing her. The girl sighed, now in control of what she was dreaming._ **

**_The cougar passed through her when it attacked, it faded away. Then everything went black._ **

Juniper sprung up, with widened eyes. She panted, looking at the sweat on her hands, feeling the sweat on her face once she pressed her right hand to her forehead. She fell back onto the bed, heart racing, wanting to figure out why she was scared of such a dream. Mostly because of the cougar, but she sighed. Juniper forced herself to become calm, sitting up and swinging her legs over the bed, seeing that she forgot to sleep with a blanket.

       Juniper dragged her feet, limping, across the ground, picking up a beer bottle on the way to the living room. She took a swig of the drink, setting it down on the ground. Pulling up her pants leg to look at her ankle, it still needed to heal from the last time she ran into an actual bear trap. She squeezed her eyes shut, remembering the many times she had to go to that little town she protected, just to get patched up by one of her favorite people in the world. But, he's dead, like everyone else in that town.

       She made a promise that no other mutants would get to her, that'd she find the rest of those enemy mutants that attacked her home. The images of herself and that healer she loved so much, giving each other loving kisses, hugs, and talks ran through her head. Next thing she knew, that beer bottle on the ground was in shards of glass near the wall. Juniper clutched her head in her hands, she needed to get away from her cabin, from that town so close to the woods she lived in. Then it clicked, her dream, her nightmare, was those same woods she lived in, that cougar was herself, her own problems coming after her.

       Her hands dropped her sides, her head looking at the ground. She sighed, and went to grab her sunglasses and leather jacket. She had slept in her jeans, t-shirt, combat boots, and.... two of the rings that reminded her of too much. She can't let go of those rings, not yet. Juniper growled a little, seeing herself in a broken mirror, one that she broke out of anger.

       Her dark makeup seeped away in her sleep. She sighed, heading towards her bathroom to fix the problem. After 10 minutes, she headed out towards the door, sliding her dark sunglasses on. She ran, as fast as she could, watching where she was going for once. Her carelessness almost fading away as she ran towards the road, the highway really.

**** _The repeated screaming of a girl in a test tube continued. Being drained of her regeneration powers almost completely. She had once been able to heal like her brothers. Not anymore. Her regeneration is slower, and felt pain she had felt through this experiment. And many more. The same girl in the dream, screaming and crying out, felt helpless. Like she couldn’t do anything to save herself from this Hell. She couldn’t even describe the pain she felt. Or even what was happening._

        Juniper stumbled over her own feet, clutching her head between her hands. She stood up straight, reaching for the back of her neck. Where originally she had a tracking device when she was experimented on. A scar was left there, when she tore it out along with a chunk of bloodied skin once upon a time. She breathed out a long huff of air.

_Glass shards were on the floor. The girl had broken out, how to describe it was hard. How was she awake? Or was she awake all the time? Yes, she was. Painful screams and cries kept her awake._

_She coughed for a couple moments, looking at her bloodied knees and palms. Only in a sports bra and the shortest shorts, she stood up. Pulling off the tubes that kept her alive in that glass chamber. Stepping on the crunching glass beneath her feet, leaving blood trails as she escaped through the same route Weapon X went through. At least where she saw the destroyed halls and doors. She didn’t have time to escape first. She waited until she could hear a raging man from another room to escape before her._

_She planned for this. She dug her nails, sharp and strong, into her tender skin on her neck. Ripping off the skin and the tracker in it. Grunting roughly, feeling the spike of pain. But, she knew where it was. Exactly._

_The rest of the escape was clear, with fighting to get out, killing, and leaving a Hell she knew for too long. A time before she met her perfectly perfect lover._

        Juniper’s breathing became heavy, she slowed her pace. Not seeing that she was on the road, her vision became blurry. With tears. Something she knew too well. Something she wished would stop.

        But, it can’t. It wouldn’t stop, and it can’t stop. Juniper knows it too. It’s just something she wished. But, she knew Logan’s life is worse than hers.

        Maybe she could move in with Victor if he’s still around. She knows that she’ll never go to that X-Men joint anyways. Then again Victor might get her to join The Brotherhood or whatever Magneto does.

        She can’t stay in that cabin anyways. It was abandoned in the first place, and she might as well abandon it like the last owner. More like she killed the homeowner to even live there. The way Juniper killed was brutal.

        She had always tore out a huge chunk of someone’s neck with her bared teeth. Cutting the rest of the neck with her nails. And left the victim to bleed out. Though, each kill was different. Sometimes she’d snap the neck. Leaving the kill to be quick. She never knew why she killed. It was wrong, and she was lost in emotions. Who could make her stop? Who can make her better as a person?

**** _The girl tore open another mutants neck. Snapped another. Bashed the face in of some other mutant. She was acting out of rage. And the mutants that were left when the human attack happened to her town she loved and protected, she killed. Brutally murdered by a woman who had saw too much in her lifetime._

_“Evan!” She screamed, making her last kill happen. She snapped the neck of the mutant. Not realizing what she did._

_Running, no sprinting to her lover’s side, she fell, sliding to his side. Scrapes on her legs, hot, heavy tears running down._

_The healer, Evan, gently placed his dark olive skinned hand on her cheek. The girl touched his hand, leaning her head into his touch. Something she had always done._

_“I love you, June.” He softly said, his voice warm like honey, but almost lifeless._

_Juniper whimpered, her piercing blue eyes, looking into his warm amber ones. “Don’t waste your strength on me.”_

_“Oh, my cougar, you know you can’t stop me.” Evan had wheezed, running his thumb over her cracked lips._

_“I know.” Juniper whispered, soon placing a kiss on his soft lips. And with that, her soon to be husband’s arm went limp, dropping to the ground, with a piercing scream from the female erupting._

_His blood. The towns people. And those she killed her on her hands. Now and forever in time._

Not seeing, she was on the road. She was hit with a car, falling to the ground. The car gearing up at a stop. Everything in The Cougar’s vision became blurry then black. The clear opposite of consciousness happening for the first time during this new day.

 


	2. Words Spoken Too Soon

Juniper groaned, soon coming to a panic with her heart racing as fast as the hare ran against the tortoise . She was laying on the back seats of a truck. The apparent truck that hit her. The truck she should’ve watched out for.

        “You alright, kid?” The driver had asked. A male. A voice thick and calm.

        Juniper growled quietly, seeing that all she’s ever called is ‘kid’. “I’m fine.” She spoke, her voice dark, horse, and livid. She always seemed annoyed when she spoke. But, not to Evan. **_Evan._**

        “You took quite a hit-” The man stopped, those words being his final ones.

        Juniper had killed him. Using the mutated nails of hers. She threw the body onto the road to decompose, and to get rid of it.

        She lividly took the wheel as she forcefully pushes the gas pedal, moving her forward for a moment. She swerved on accident as she tried to compose herself, but if it wasn’t for her sharp talons that made a laceration on her bare skin. Her blood seeping down her wrist as she thought nothing of it as she continued to drive. With tears brimming her eyes as she was driving in an annular motion, going nowhere in particular. Eventually, she cried so much that she passed out.

        Her head hit the steering wheel as the truck crashed into a sign off the road, blood dripping from her forehead. In front of a gas station. During this time a man on a motorcycle was heading to this gas station. He took off his helmet, looked at the truck. He sniffed the air, recognizing a sent he never thought he'd smell again. Through all that alcoholic reeking mess of Juniper's, Logan could still smell her usual mountain smell. 

        Logan shook his head, and walked up to the truck. He tore the door off with his bare hands, tossing it onto the grass. He thought for a moment then headed into the gas station. A few minutes later, he came out with a newspaper in his back pocket and a bottle of water that he sliced open with one of his claws. 

        When he returned to the truck, he stabbed Juniper's thigh to awake her. And she did wake up, screaming that turned into fierce huffs as she had her claws at the ready when she turned her head to look at Logan. She was going to attack him, but her look softened because she realized it was Logan, one of her brothers.

        "What am I going to do with you, June?" Logan joked in his gruff voice, a soft smile on his face. 

        He offered the water, and Juniper took it. "I honestly don't know, Logan." 

        "The truck reeks of blood, you too. But, mostly alcohol is what I smell on you. I didn't take you to turn to alcoholism, sis."

        In a few seconds she finished the water. "Only because my lover died, I killed a town of mutants that I promised to protect, nightmares, and I keep remembering things that I want to forget." She spat out, each word filled with hate. For herself.

        Logan sighed, choosing to ignore that hate. "Come on, I'm going home and you should come with me." He spoke, wiping the blood on her forehead off with a piece of his shirt that he had torn off.

        "Where's 'home'?" Juniper asked, getting out of the truck. She had nothing special so she leaned against Logan while he took her to his motorcycle. 

        Logan got on first, better for him to drive than her. He handed her his helmet, knowing she'd need it more than him. "You'll see, June. You'll see."

 

** Hours Later **

 

        Juniper's wounds had healed, her headache stayed. When they arrived to the Institute Juniper felt a wave of remembrance. 

        _Juniper giggled as the mutant children played in the streets. Her home was a kind one. And she swore to protect it. ~~Boy, did that go wrong.~~  She had finished a hunt, a deer is what she killed. No one seemed to care for the blood on her claws and around her mouth. It was a large buck. Enough to feed the small town for a few days._

_Evan came out of his clinic. "Wow, June! I think that's your biggest catch yet!" He grinned._

_Juniper smiled nervously, cracking a smile. "Yeah, surprised I still got my strength up to carry the damn thing."_

_One of the children, a little girl with brown pigtails, looked up at Juniper with a furious glare. "June! What did I say about language!"_

_Juniper set down the buck, and crouched down to the girl's level. She was a small one, had powers that connected her to animal spirits. "I'm sorry, Emely. I'll try my best not to say a bad word next time."_

_Emely grinned, her golden eyes flecked with green sparkled. "Okay, June! I'll see you later!" Then the girl ran off to play with the other children._

_Evan smirked. "You'll be a great mom to our child, June."_

        Juniper grasped her head, falling to her knees. Tears were brimming her eyes again. The X-Men children stared with worry. Whispers between them were passed around no problem.

        "June!" Logan yelled, his gruff voice stayed, but she heard his worry.

        A man in a wheelchair came rolling out into the yard, a woman of color and her white locks flowing in the air behind her at his side. "Logan, who is this?" The bald man spoke.

        Logan looked at the man, worry shown in his eyes. "Juniper. Juniper Johnson."

        The whispers grew louder, and Juniper's head pounded with agony. 

        "Please, Professor.. help her." Juniper swore she heard Logan's voice break. **They hadn't seen each other in years, what could make him still care for her as a sister?**

        "Hello, Juniper. I'm Professor Xavier. From what I can tell, you've been through a lot. And you want that pain of yours to go away. Am I correct?"  The man spoke, but in her mind. Juniper shakily looked up at him, her hands dropping as her head nodded 'yes'.

        Xavier smiled softly. "Here at my institute, we can help you. Even though this is a place for young mutants to learn how to control their abilities, we'll be happy enough to help you overcome your trauma, my dear."


	3. *Author's Note*

Each format means something, and this is a guideline to what;

 

**_This text means that Juniper is dreaming._ **

_This text means Juniper's mind jumped to a memory of her past._

This text means the physical stuff in the story, like her present/real actions or speech.

**This text means a straight up Juniper thought when she isn't dreaming or remembering something.**

This text means mind talk, aka someone or something is talking to Juniper, but in her mind. 

**This text means something like "hours later" or something else.**

~~This text means that there's a present thought in a memory.~~

 

And that's all you need to know to understand what's going on.

 


End file.
